A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 2

Luna grabbed her excuse of a breakfast as quick as she could while the breakfast frenzy continued in the kitchen. She had given up getting a decent breakfast awhile ago. The four boys, were acting like they were a starved pack of wolves, as usual, while the other girls just skipped the food heading out the door.

The eight of them all lived in a foster home. Chelcy's father left her mother and the authorities couldn't track him down after her mother died when she was twelve.

Terra's parents were abusive and criminals, the police took her away when she was eight.

Lucy was new to the foster program. She came to the current foster home from the hospital. Her house burned down, she was lucky enough to get out alive, the rest of her family wasn't. She lost both of her parents and her little sister. She still cried at night.

The boys didn't tend to talk about their stories, so Luna didn't know them, but she was fairly sure that she had been in the program the longest.

Luna's father was an abusive criminal and her mother had died when she was only three. She'd been shipped from foster home to foster home ever since. Family was foreign to her and she never made friends, knowing that she'd just get shipped to some other foster home eventually.

Luna acted like an adult. She worked for neighbors during the summer to save money, occasionally indulging herself in a book. She knew that when she was too old for foster care, she'd have to make her own living, and saving up for college was a good way to start. There was always the risk that one of the other kids would steal her money, so she was very careful with it.

"Oh, dear," Luna heard Jessica, her technical foster mother, mutter as she passed her on her way to the door.

Luna unwrapped her protein bar and began eating as Jessica began to try and rain in the boys before walking out into the crisp autumn air, a breeze sending a shiver up her spin.

She pulled the hood of her sweat shirt up as she mentally cursed herself for forgetting gloves. It was getting colder now that it was October.

She ate the protein bar quickly so she could hopefully keep her hands from freezing on her way to school as she began to revisit her dream. It had been a wonderful dream, flying around in space, feeling the weightlessness of zero gravity. Talking to Luke Skywalker.

Luna paused at the entrance to an alley. She felt that something was back there, she just didn't know what. She thought for a few seconds before her curiosity got the best of her and she wandered off her allotted course. Once she got to the end of the alley she saw a litter of kittens placed in a somewhat sheltered corner. They were meowing weakly.

"You poor things.... Is your mommy around?" Luna asked as she bent down next to them, petting a white one, her heart melting. She of course received no answer.

She looked at the entrance to the alley. Christopher and Jacin would be along soon, assuming no one else came to school this way.

Luna didn't want to see what they would do to a bunch of helpless kittens, besides, she needed to get to school.

"I'll be back, I promise," Luna told the kittens before turning to leave.